He just wrapped up filming for the Invictus Games coverage on ABC; he’s number two in the world for wheelchair tennis, having just won the US Open, he’s training for Tokyo 2020 Olympics – which will be his fourth Olympics (winning Gold as part of the wheelchair basketball team in 2008); he has a new TV show The Set on ABC, regular stints on Triple J radio; his book Able comes out in November; he runs the Dylan Alcott Foundation which helps young Australians with disabilities, and he’s also started all-inclusive Ability Fest, a music festival aimed at kids with disabilities.
Did we mention he’s only 27?
“It’s unbelievable to think three years ago I was on a disability pension,” he shares with WHO, and he’s got big plans for the future.
“I want to be a big mainstay in the media and want to do acting,” he shares. “I’d also love my own talk show or radio show in the US.”
Born with a tumour on his spine, Alcott has been in a wheelchair his whole life, and reveals he recently found out how close he came to dying when he was younger.
“I had no idea how sick I was, in my book there’s a photo of me, and supposedly the doctor said, ‘You better take a photo of him because he might not wake up in the morning.’ I had this infection and they gave me a shot of steroids that was going save me or kill me.”
Alcott is passionate about empowering people with disabilities.
“More people need to be proud of their disability instead of shying away from it, because as soon as I became proud of it, I started dating, I started playing sport, everything happened.”
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